


First Contact

by karasunovolleygays



Series: Valentine's Kisses 2020 [33]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Current Manga Spoilers, F/M, First Date, Fluff, Height difference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22613035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunovolleygays/pseuds/karasunovolleygays
Summary: Bokuto notices Yachi right away in the stands and wants to know more about her. Lucky for him, his newest teammate can arrange first contact.
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Yachi Hitoka
Series: Valentine's Kisses 2020 [33]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589239
Comments: 14
Kudos: 142





	First Contact

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itsrainingcupcakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsrainingcupcakes/gifts).



> This was written for my 2020 Valentine's Kisses: 35. An awkward kiss given after a first date.
> 
> This story is also available translated into Russian [here](https://ficbook.net/readfic/9698836), courtesy of Stanchik.

He notices her right away. She’s a small, blonde slip of a thing who looks like a healthy breeze could knock her off her feet, and she is one of the most beautiful women he’s ever seen who isn’t even trying to be.

She doesn’t need any wind to knock Bokuto off his feet; she can do that just by existing.

Throughout the match, his eyes stray to the stands to see if she’s watching him. As he can only glance between plays, she is usually looking at the court in general when he peeks. 

However, late in the second set, Bokuto looks at her and she peers back, and he can see her cheeks turn red from ten meters away. It’s then that he notices the familiar faces surrounding her, and he realizes that she is with the Karasuno alumni contingent.

While they mill around between the second and third sets, Bokuto elbows Hinata. “Eh, Shouyou, who’s that girl sitting with your old school buddies?”

“Which one?” Hinata’s face scrunches as he stares at the stands. “What row?”

“The blonde one. She’s sitting a couple of seats down from Tsukki.” Bokuto bounces on the balls of his feet as Hinata scans the crowd once again, and his breath catches when Hinata jumps. “What? Who?”

Hinata rolls his eyes. “Oh, that’s Yachi-san. She was one of our managers, and she did posters and stuff for us.” Hinata steeples his fingers and averts his eyes. “And, uh, may or may not have made sure Kageyama and I didn’t fail our classes.”

Bokuto throws his head back and laughs, clapping Hinata on the shoulder. “Join the crowd.” His arm drapes over Hinata’s shoulder and he leans in to murmur, “Would you, uh, mind giving her my number?”

Confusion morphs into surprise, and then Hinata waggles his brows. “Ooh, Bokuto-san likes Yachi-san!”

“Yeah, well no shit.” Bokuto’s gaze drifts over to Yachi once again and he sighs. “She’s ridiculously cute and pocket sized. Love me some tiny cuties.”

Slapping a hand over his mouth, Hinata giggles and nods, and Bokuto doesn’t bother hiding his fist pump.

A chin props on his shoulder, and Miya’s greasy chuckle wafts into his ear. Bokuto grins. “Oh, yeah. I’m awesome.”

“Having no context other than you staring at Karasuno-chan all night, I can only assume you’re going to hit on her.” He claps Bokuto on the arm and sighs. “Go forth and conquer, my friend.”

Bokuto elbows Miya and earns a pained _oof._ “Yachi-san is a lady. Only creeps conquer ladies.” Grinning ear to ear, he adds, “I’m just gonna, you know, give _her_ the chance to conquer _me_.”

“You do you, Kou-chan.” Miya slapped a water bottle against Bokuto’s chest. “Drink up and line up, unless you plan on letting Hinata take your spot.”

Scrambling to get back into a match mindset, Bokuto still can’t banish his stray thoughts of Yachi, who he now vaguely recollects from high school. He tries to remember what she sounds like, how she smiles, what she likes to eat. Nevertheless, he pushes those thoughts aside because if all goes well, he’ll get to learn it all again.

  
  


It’s nearly one in the morning when both the Black Jackals and the Adlers return from a nearby bar to celebrate reunions and so forth, and Bokuto is a little unsteady on his feet as he opens the door to his hotel room. 

Yachi hadn’t attended, with one of her Karasuno brethren mentioning she has a ton of assignments to work on for college. Disappointed but not too terribly bothered, Bokuto instead concentrates on challenging Akaashi to (and losing) a game of pinball. 

Dropping onto his bed with his arms splayed wide, Bokuto sighs at the ceiling. “Man, I hope she calls me.”

“Shut up and go to sleep,” comes a muffled reply from the bed next to his, occupied by Oliver Barnes, who is still struggling with the time zone shock after arriving from his native country so hadn’t joined the revelry, either. “Are you allergic to being quiet after midnight?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” Fishing his phone from his pocket, Bokuto stares at it until he realizes he has a new message from an unknown contact. “Oh, what have we here?”

A pillow slaps him in the face, along with a groggy, “Be quiet!”

Bokuto bites on his bottom lip to keep from whooping for joy when he opens the message.  
  


_Hello, Bokuto-san!_

_Hinata-kun mentioned you were interested in talking to me. I have to admit, I’m surprised. I didn’t think you’d remember me, let alone know I was there._

_And now I don’t know what to say._

  
No longer tired in the slightest, Bokuto ducks into the bathroom and sits on the counter while he composes a response.  
  


_hey glad you messaged uwu_

_actually i have no idea what uwu means_

_it just looks cute_

_kinda like what i thought when i saw you in the bleachers_

_didn’t know i already knew you til i thought about it for a while_

_i just saw you and thought you were super cute_ _  
  
_

His entire skin tingles as he awaits a reply. The same rush of excitement he gets before a volleyball match is already starting to brew. He still doesn’t know if she’s interested, but she hasn’t indicated that she isn’t. That’s a start. 

The next notification comes, and Bokuto holds his breath.  
  


_I was just thinking about you the other day, actually. A few days ago, I was thinking something really defeatist about one of my assignments, and I remembered what you said about being confident. As it turns out, the teacher thought it was some of my best work_

_So, uh, thank you for that, even if you didn’t know you did it._

_Well, that is, until now._

_brb, going to google ‘how to delete a text you already sent’_

  
Bokuto snorts. He had given up on the concept of being embarrassed about stuff he says ages ago, but when Yachi does it, it’s precious.  
  


_you’re so cute what the hell_

  
He pauses for a moment before he sends the next one.  
  


_i don’t suppose you’d mind if i took you out sometime_

  
No answer comes for a few minutes, and his feet twitch nervously until he finally receives a response. He takes a deep breath before he opens the text.  
  


_You know what? I’d like that a lot._

  
With a howl of triumph, Bokuto sprints out of the bathroom and barrels down the hallway, bouncing as he shouts victory up and down the stairwell. That is, of course, until a very tired and very irritated concierge mostly-politely asks him to cease.

Back at his own door, he clutches his phone to his chest and sighs. He has a date with one of the cutest girls in Sendai. “Oh yeah, Bokuto-san is back in the saddle.”

Humming, Bokuto reaches for his key card, only to find the only thing besides himself and his pajamas he took out of the room had been his phone. “Aww, damn it!” He pounds on the door and calls through it, “Hey, Barnes, lemme in!”

His phone chimes with a message from Barnes, which is a simple: _No._

“C’mon, man, I’m not wearing pants!” 

This time, Barnes yells through the door, “No!”

“Fine!”

Bokuto trickles down the hall and knocks on the door to Hinata’s room and says, “Hey, Shouyou, it’s me. Mind if I crash with you?”

Hinata answers the door with bleary eyes and smelling faintly of vomit. “Oh, hey, Bokuto-san. Sure, you can —” His eyes bulge before he sprints for the bathroom, and the sound of pained retching soon follows. 

“I’m gonna take that as a yes,” he murmurs before closing the door behind him to shepherd Hinata to bed so he can wake up with his first ever four-alarm hangover.

  
  


The entire contents of Bokuto’s suitcase flop out onto his bed, and he rifles through everything in search of something fit to wear on a date.

“What idiot put all of these t-shirts in here?” he grumbles. “Do I even own anything with buttons other than jeans?”

Scribbling in a sketchbook, Barnes chortles. “Do you really want me to answer that? You’re the one who never goes anywhere and does anything but work out and play volleyball. ‘What do I need that crap for?’ I believe that was the phrase you used.”

Grabbing twin fistfuls of his hair, Bokuto whines, “Dude, you have to let me borrow some of your grown-up clothes.”

“Nope.” Barnes tosses a newspaper over onto the pile of clothes. “Here, there’s some ads in there. Go shopping on the off chance this girl actually likes you and will want to see you again.”

Bokuto wrinkles his nose and glowers. “Hah hah, you’re hilarious.” Nonetheless, he rifles through the ads until he finds a store that won’t give him the jeebs just by walking through the door.

A few hours and a couple of nervous Facetime chats with Akaashi later, Bokuto emerges with a nice ensemble Akaashi swears won’t get him kicked from a nice restaurant on sight. He’s pretty sure he’s never worn a sweater after the age of ten, but the evening’s forecast promises to be on the chilly side and Akaashi said the fated ‘just trust me on this’. No way Bokuto’s saying no to that kind of logic. It hasn’t failed him yet

With the hard part out of the way, he takes the bus to Yachi’s side of town to pick her up.

After following her bizarrely detailed instructions on how to reach her place from the stop, Bokuto finds himself outside the door to her building but not actually nervous at all. “All right, time to kill it, Koutarou. You got this.”

A split second before he can hit the buzzer to her unit, the front door to the lobby flies open and smacks Bokuto in the face. “Ow, ow, ow!” he whines, checking his fingers to make sure his nose isn’t bleeding. “Oh, good.”

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Tiny hands corral him through the door and onto a bench. When Bokuto catches a proper glance, he starts when he notices his assailant-slash-angel of mercy is Yachi. “Bokuto-san, I’m so sorry!”

The pain in his face forgotten, Bokuto sags into the bench and whines, “Ah, crap, how uncool can I get?”

A tissue in her hand, Yachi gently dabs around the affected area, giving him a wide smile. “I’ll always think you’re cool, Bokuto-san.” She bobs her head in approval. “Well, it’s not broken or bleeding, but it might be sore for a few days. Don’t get hit in the face with any volleyballs.”

Bokuto swallows a guffaw when she ends with a wagging finger, only to snatch it behind her back and squeak, “Sorry!”

“Nah, Yachi-san, you’re fine. With how long you’ve known Hinata, I’m sure this isn’t the first time that phrase has passed through those lovely lips of yours.”

Yachi turns beet red but doesn’t avert her gaze to answer, “I think you’re lovely, too, Bokuto-san.”

Okay, so maybe they’re both blushing now.

His voice half an octave higher than usual, Bokuto says, “Maybe we should get going before they give away our table.” Relieved by the instant change in mood, Bokuto hums while they head back for the bus stop to head downtown.

The seafood restaurant isn’t the fanciest one on the block, but their online reviews are good and Bokuto really doesn’t want to wear a tie again for the rest of his life. 

When they arrive, however, Yachi stops mid-stride and whimpers. “Oh no.”

“What?” Bokuto swallows hard when he sees her face go white. “Are you okay, Yacchan?”

“I —” Covering her face with her hands, she cries, “I should’ve told you I’m allergic to shellfish!”

Bokuto’s eyes grow wide for a moment, but seeing her entire body cringe tugs at something in his belly. Instead, he throws an arm around her shoulders and says, “No big deal, babe. There are hundreds of restaurants in this city. I’m sure one of them won’t give you prophylaxis.”

Yachi giggles into her hands. “I think you mean anaphylaxis.”

Shrugging, Bokuto agrees, “Yeah, sure, why not.” He offers her his hand with a broad smile and receives both in return.

Their wanderings take them a block down to a simple noodle shop, which has cuisine Yachi swears by, and Bokuto groans at the savory scent of the broth. “Now this is more like it.”

Hand in hand, they enter, get seated, and order without letting go.

It’s well over an hour later and far past sunset when they both stagger out of the restaurant, packed to the brim with what could be the best damn noodles Bokuto’s had in a long time.

“Ah, man, that was awesome.” When they reach the bus stop, Bokuto taps Yachi on the shoulder. “Say, uh, I don’t suppose you’d want to wander around the park for a little bit. It’s a nice night, and I kinda don’t want it to be over yet.”

Yachi slides her hand in his and smiles. “I’d like that.”

It’s almost midnight before Bokuto finally escorts Yachi to her door for the end of their first date, complete with her swaddled in his brand new sweater over her jacket to fend off the looming chill in the evening. 

When they reach the door to Yachi’s building, Bokuto bites his lip to ward away the urge to whisk her away for the rest of the night, maybe even forever. 

Noticing his deflating humor, Yachi leans into his side. “I almost don’t want to go home. I had a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel.” He cups her cheek in his hand, his tanned skin a stark contrast to her milky complexion, but his heart beats like he is running suicides, declaring that they absolutely go together. “I really like you, Yacchan.”

Blushing but not looking away, Yachi steps closer until they’re pressed together. She covers his hand with hers and presses a kiss to his palm. “Bokuto-san, I’d very much like to kiss you goodnight, but I’m too short.”

“Oh. _Oh!_ ” Bokuto whisks Yachi off her feet to stand on a low stone fence flanking the walkway leading up to the door. With the boost, their heights are almost identical. “Better?”

Her arms loop around his neck, and she pulls him close with a surprising amount of strength. “Very.” Bokuto’s breath catches as Yachi lists forward for a kiss.

Her lips are soft, carrying a hint of something fruity beneath the rich remnants of their dinner, and every time her face touches his, Bokuto can’t help but notice that her skin is the softest thing he’s ever touched.

Yachi breaks off the kiss to gasp for air, and Bokuto can’t help but find it sexy as hell. 

“Good night, Bokuto-san,” she gasps.

Bokuto grabs her by the waist, but before he lowers her to solid ground, he whispers in her ear, “Good night, Yacchan.”

Heart still hammering, Bokuto paces back and forth after Yachi disappears into the building until he sees her wave from a window three floors up. Waving back, it’s no longer to avoid the fact that it’s time to leave.

With that, he shoves his hands into the pockets of his khakis and hums and aimless tune on the way back to his hotel. 

Will he see Yachi again? He will if she’ll have him. Or if she wants to give his sweater back. He would walk all the way to the other side of town just to see her, even if it’s something dumb like that.

“Oh, man, I’ve got it bad,” he muses when he finally drops into bed for the night.

Barnes, more awake than usual due to the lack of practice the next morning, chortles. “You sure do, Koutarou. Luckily for you, she seems to be into airheads.”

“Hey!” But even as he lobs his pillow in protest, Bokuto can’t help but laugh. 

Yachi Hitoka is one of the most beautiful people he has ever met, inside and out, and damn it all, he is definitely going to ask her out again.


End file.
